Senator Alan Cayetano protects Duterte against De Lima’s speech

Senator Alan Cayetano countered his colleague in the senate, Leila De Lima, who blasted the increasing number of killings following President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign against drugs.

As the running mate of Duterte in the national elections, Cayetano cried foul over the conclusions and criticisms against the head of the state. He also tried to question the former Department of Justice (DOJ) secretary but she cited senate rules and declined.

This happened right after De Lima delivered her first privilege speech as a senator and probed, what she called, the “do-it-yourself justice system.”
She called out on the alarming state of people who carried the law all by themselves with the help of a cardboard, an acrylic marker, and the weapon to kill anyone. This, according to her, overlooked police investigations, prosecutors, judges, and the system itself.

De Lima called for the murders to stop and for the senate to react on these executions without being influenced by the president’s popularity. She said that in the campaign against criminality, they shouldn’t applaud criminal methods just because it doesn’t directly affect them.

Different media outlets have already totaled more than 500 deaths of alleged drug suspects while the Philippine National Police’s tally isn’t far with their estimation close to 400.
Included in the speech is the lady senator’s denial of the allegations that she didn’t do anything to stop the trade of illegal drugs when she was a part of the Aquino administration.

Her accusations didn’t set well with the 45-year old senator who expressed his sympathy at first if De Lima was being wrongly accused. After that, he immediately pointed out that the president never declared his support for any form of summary killings. He even commended Duterte who called out police officials who are planning to abuse their power.

In his retort against De Lima’s take on criminality, Cayetano shared that the Philippines has a 13% drop in crime.
Senators Riza Hontiveros and Francis Pangilinan who shared the same political party with De Lima also raised the same concerns as hers in relation to the killings.

Senator Cayetano has already been elected as the chief of the Department of Foreign Affairs. However, he would need to wait for the one-year ban to be over before he can step up to the position.